Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday, Özdebir stated that the government should make structural reforms to increase the competitive power of the real sector, improve the business environment in the domestic market and pave the way for investment, employment and export. The structural reforms should be concentrated on the real sector to lower the effects of unemployment on society and to accelerate recovery from economic stagnation, he added.
The worst of the crisis had affected the real sector, he asserted, citing especially the drop in industrial production starting from August 2008, which started to show signs of recovery in October this year. Özdebir, however, expressed concern over whether this recovery will continue further. He cited the reluctance of banks to extend loans to small and medium sized establishments (SMEs) as the main reason behind these concerns, and added that necessary measures should be taken to resolve this issue otherwise the drop in industrial production will continue in 2010, too, he warned. He remarked that Turkey’s recovery from the crisis depends on the performance of the global markets. There is no consensus whether the recovery from the crisis will be slow but sustainable or a double dip recession, he said, stressing the need of being cautiously optimistic about the future.
